St George's Park (SGP) is the English Football Association's national football centre (NFC) built on a site at Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The centre was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on 9 October 2012. The purpose of the centre is to be the base for all coaching and development work undertaken by the FA, and to be the training and preparation ground for all 28 of the England national football teams at the same time, including disability, futsal and those who compete in UEFA and FIFA competitions such as: Men's Senior, U-21, U-20, U-19 and U-17. Women's Senior, U-21, U-19 and U-17. History Originally part of Needwood Forest, the hunting grounds were developed by the Berkeley family in the 13th century. After passing into the hands of the crown, in the 1700s the lease again became owned by private individuals. Passing to the Bass family in 1850, the country house was redeveloped in the 1870s, after which an extensive horse racing stud was developed. After the death of Sir William Bass, 2nd Baronet in 1952, the estate was sold off and the house demolished. Purchase and planning Before the proposed development, the FA had two streams of development facilities: Lilleshall Hall had provided coaching for England's best young players, but had been superseded from both a facility and commercial viewpoint by numerous youth academies opened by various football clubs Bisham Abbey is a multi-sport complex which the FA had used for preparing the national team for matches. The FA wanted a purpose-built, state-of-the-art complex reserved solely for football. Following research by FA technical director Howard Wilkinson, the FA bought the site for £2m in 2001 from the Forte Hotels division of Granada Leisure plc. Having researched all existing National Football Centres, Wilkinson's project was based on the French system located at Clairefontaine near Paris, which nurtured the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship winners. It would provide the base for Wilkinson and the FA coaching staff to look for and develop the future generations of England stars. The centre's facilities would include 14 pitches, and provide facilities and headquarters from national teams from the age of 14 upwards. Following the departure of FA Chief Executive Adam Crozier, the FA reviewed their plans in November 2002. Due to escalating costs at Wembley Stadium, the FA were expected to place an additional £100m into that project. On